I agree Curry can be a very useful scorer for D’Antoni, but he’s going to have to get his shots off quicker. It remains to be seen whether he is capable of not holding the ball for 10 seconds before shooting (other than the rare Crawford alley-oop). I certainly hope he can.

“The problem was that he was passing out to a guy that could NOT knock down the 3 pointer consistently enough to discourage his defender from doubling.”

Again, IS, this is way off base. Jamal Crawford was the only guy who couldn’t hit a jumper that season (32% 3p shooting). Nate shot 39% on 3s, Q 37.6&, and Marbury 35.7%.

http://www.82games.com/0405CHIP.HTM

They’re from Duhon and Curry’s one year together.

Curry is a great finisher, good at alley oops, good on the pick and roll and almost unstopable one on one. He only really struggles when the offense grinds to a halt and he is forced to try and score against or pass out of double teams. Isiah drew up a lazy offensive scheme that tried to treat Curry like the second coming of Shaq which as we all know he most certainly is not.

If D’Antoni runs Curry down the court and lets Curry operate before the defense can get set he should be very productive next season. I look at the way Pheonix uses Amare. They either get him to score early in the shot clock before the defense can get set or they isolate and run a two man game with Nash. While Curry does not have as well rounded of a game as Amare he is even better inside so if we can force single coverage either by running down the court or using good ball movement he should get alot of easier looks.

Mike,

I can’t totally agree with your view about putting cart before the horse.

It’s true that Curry turns the ball over too much when doubled and tripled, but it’s not like he never passes out of there. During his terrific offensive run 2 years ago he did pass back out many times. The problem was that he was passing out to a guy that could NOT knock down the 3 pointer consistently enough to discourage his defender from doubling. Improving Curry’s passing a little might reduce turnovers and create an extra good shot here or there, but it’s not going to get Curry single coverage and allow him to really shine.

As I said before, it’s possible to put together a line up that will compliment Curry, but IMO some of the lineups including Balkman, Duhon, and Lee would be problematical if you are trying to make Curry a the major scoring option he would have to be with those guys on the court.

#1. Duhon is nothing else but a spot-up shooter.

#2. Eddy Curry didn’t have a break out season 2 years ago. His per minute stats were nearly identical to that of last year & his career averages. What made it appear that he had a break out season was gaining 10 minutes per game.

#3. During that season the Knicks’ top 5 minute getters (after Curry who was #1) were: Marbury, Crawford, Frye, Lee, Richardson, and Robinson. Other than Lee, those are some pretty good jump shooters. And Curry’s ast/36 was still only a pathetic 0.9 (Curry’s career average is 0.8ast/36).

Curry has never been a good passer not because of his teammates, but because of himself. (Boy how many times have I had to type this sentence out?)

Once a team recognizes that the Knicks have no serious outside scoring threats, it gets easier for players to sag off their men and double/triple team Curry.
…
My point was specific to certain lineups we were discussing that IMO would not be effective with Curry because of the lack of shooting (Balkman, Lee, and Duhan for example).

Yeah but you’re putting the horse before the cart. Teams don’t double team Curry because the Knicks have no outside shooters. Teams double team Curry because he can’t pass out of the double team. It’s irrelevant who else is on the court, and as Ted noted the Knicks have had good three point shooters on the court with Curry without it being a detriment.
Watching over the last few years it seems Eddy usually knows what he’s going to do when he gets the ball irregardless of what the other team does. Hence why he gets so many charging calls.
I know in the past that Jon Abbey has said he wants to see what Curry can do with a different point guard feeding him the ball. I suspect his FG% may rise, but I’d be shocked if his AST or TO improve (unless D’Antoni’s system changes Curry’s role dramatically).

Mike,

I can’t totally agree with your view about putting cart before the horse.

It’s true that Curry turns the ball over too much when doubled and tripled, but it’s not like he never passes out of there. During his terrific offensive run 2 years ago he did pass back out many times. The problem was that he was passing out to a guy that could NOT knock down the 3 pointer consistently enough to discourage his defender from doubling. Improving Curry’s passing a little might reduce turnovers and create an extra good shot here or there, but it’s not going to get Curry single coverage and allow him to really shine.

As I said before, it’s possible to put together a line up that will compliment Curry, but IMO some of the lineups including Balkman, Duhon, and Lee would be problematical if you are trying to make Curry a the major scoring option he would have to be with those guys on the court.

Once a team recognizes that the Knicks have no serious outside scoring threats, it gets easier for players to sag off their men and double/triple team Curry.

…

My point was specific to certain lineups we were discussing that IMO would not be effective with Curry because of the lack of shooting (Balkman, Lee, and Duhan for example).

Yeah but you’re putting the horse before the cart. Teams don’t double team Curry because the Knicks have no outside shooters. Teams double team Curry because he can’t pass out of the double team. It’s irrelevant who else is on the court, and as Ted noted the Knicks have had good three point shooters on the court with Curry without it being a detriment.

Watching over the last few years it seems Eddy usually knows what he’s going to do when he gets the ball irregardless of what the other team does. Hence why he gets so many charging calls.

I know in the past that Jon Abbey has said he wants to see what Curry can do with a different point guard feeding him the ball. I suspect his FG% may rise, but I’d be shocked if his AST or TO improve (unless D’Antoni’s system changes Curry’s role dramatically).

Besides if you have Duhon, Crawford, Balkman, Lee, and Curry as your main 5 – shouldn’t Crawford & Curry score a bulk of the points? If Crawford & Curry aren’t adding the highly desirable skill of being able to score lots of points, what are they giving the team?

In large part, some of us believe that very efficient scoring does not occur in a vaccum. It occurs in part when you have the right “combinations” of players on the court because most only have a subset of all the skills required to create a balanced and good team.

IMO, a guy like Curry can be highly efficient scorer in the post if he gets to play against single coverage a reasonable amount of the time. For that to happen, it helps to have enough outside firepower on the court with him to prevent defenses from sagging off and doubling/tripling him at will. Some combinations will be more effective than others.

IMO, Crawford is actually a better shooter than he appears to be statistically. Part of the problem has been his shot selection. But part of the problem has been he was the #1 scoring option and often found himself in a position of HAVING to take a bad shot because the shot clock ran out. In a well run offense, I think his shot selection will improve simply because the Knicks “in general” will get better shots more often. It could also happen if the Knicks had a better scoring option and Crawford became the #2 or #3 guy. It won’t happen if Crawford is the #1 scorer and also has to be a playmaker because the Knicks don’t have a legit PG. Perhaps Duhon’s PG skills and DAntoni’s system will help Crawford’s efficiency and reveal him to be quite an effective shooter when he’s not heaving up bad shots with 2 seconds on the clock as often.

“Once a team recognizes that the Knicks have no serious outside scoring threats”
Again, I think this is a fallacy. Nate shot 39% on 3s in 06-07, Q shot .376, Marbury .357. I remember finding that if you replaced Jamal with a 35% 3 point shooter that season–when the O was run through Curry– the Knicks would have been in the top 1/2 of the NBA in 3p% (9th or 12th or something). The Knicks have added Duhon a career .356 3p shooter and Danilo, plus Chandler might get it together.
The problem was never that the Knicks didn’t have outside shooting, it was that they were trying to run a mid-90s offense with a center who couldn’t pass. Curry should get a good number of looks, but on quick easy baskets not with everyone else standing around and watching him. If he doesn’t have the skills/quickness/whatever for it, sit him or trade him.
Teams were sagging off Wade last season b/c he was playing on the D-League champions.

Ted,

You are cherry picking Q Rich’s stats.

My point was specific to certain lineups we were discussing that IMO would not be effective with Curry because of the lack of shooting (Balkman, Lee, and Duhan for example).

“I don’t get it. If you have Duhon, Balk and Lee on the court at the same time, who scores?”

The other team.

Ludicrous statement. I guess we’d be a better defensive team with Marbury, Richardson, and Zach Randolph? Oh wait these guys can all hit jumpshots so they’ll be scoring in droves. Of course they’ll only need a hundred more possessions given their scoring efficiency.

Besides if you have Duhon, Crawford, Balkman, Lee, and Curry as your main 5 – shouldn’t Crawford & Curry score a bulk of the points? If Crawford & Curry aren’t adding the highly desirable skill of being able to score lots of points, what are they giving the team?